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Windows 10 Mobile Firmware Updates

We have been getting a lot of feedback on making mobile device firmware updates more accessible to our Windows Insiders with devices in the Fast and Slow rings. We have heard you loud and clear and are working to enable this. As more Windows 10 Mobile
devices come to market, we expect that firmware updates will be an ongoing activity within the Windows Insider Program.

A single device model like the Lumia 950 or the Lumia 950 XL, will ship in many configurations around the world for various network types, mobile operators, device resellers, etc. When we update mobile devices we can target devices based on the OS build
version, the model, or the specific configuration down to a particular mobile operator in a particular country. Mobile operators and Windows Insiders get early access to Insider Preview builds and Cumulative Updates to test and provide feedback on our changes
prior to rolling these updates out to Windows 10 devices. In cases where firmware updates affect the software that talks to a mobile operator network, our teams work closely with that mobile operator to evaluate and approve the firmware update for devices
they support. Specially for the Lumia 950 and 950 XL models, to date we have shipped firmware updates to 700+ device configurations and still have additional mobile operators evaluating future updates.

Currently the system that publishes firmware updates is only targeting devices that are configured to receive production updates. We have teams working on the tools to make this happen seamlessly for Windows Insiders, but it will take a few weeks to get
this rolled out in a way that works for current and future firmware updates to Windows Insiders.

While we are getting this update experience fixed; we have a temporary workaround in place to make things easier for our Windows Insiders. Within the Windows Insider application on Windows 10 Mobile we have added a new option called ‘Production’. This will
point your device back to the production update servers where you will be able to get any firmware updates that are available for your devices. Once you have the update you will then need to go back to the Windows Insider application and reselect the Fast
or Slow ring. Please be advised, if you don’t reselect Fast or Slow with any build newer than 10586 your device will be in a state which may not receive any future Insider Preview builds or Cumulative Updates.Full steps to complete this process are as follows:

Open the Windows Insider application on your device

Select “Get preview builds”
- There will now be three options to choose from:Insider Fast, Insider Slow, and Production

Select “Production”

Read the presented message and tap “accept” to confirm your selection

Your device may prompt to reboot. If not, complete a manual reboot.

After the reboot, check for updates.If available, your device will display an update to receive the newest firmware.
- Settings > Updates & security > Phone update > (check for updates)
- If the device shows a “no updates available” message, your device has the most recently available firmware

If available, complete the update by following the on-screen directions

Your device now has the newest firmware available and is set to receive the next flight when launched for your selected ring

Note:
It is worth reiterating: while some devices have a firmware update available in select countries or on particular mobile operator network, other device variants may receive firmware updates at a later time.

As with any part of the Windows Insider Program, we will continue to evaluate your feedback to make improvements to Windows and the Windows Insider Program.If there are any additional questions, please post them below.

Thank you as always Insiders!
- Jason

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We'll be making further iterations as well, but this was the first step needed to allow users to take Retail firmware updates without having to reset their device or exit the program altogether (and then sign back up).

It's been an exercise in patience for some Insiders. I know the waiting is hard! We wanted to do it the right way to make it a smooth experience as well as implement it in a way that was technologically feasible so we didn't have to re-do it from scratch
again later. I think we've accomplished that.

is there a higher risk of bricking w/ something like this? what happens if things go awry? is there any recourse (a la WP recovery tool, etc)?

Shouldn't be any risk for bricking. We were able to implement this with service-side changes that didn't require an update to the app. It took longer to implement from a technical perspective, but it's extremely low impact to the device.

The WDRT is always available if something goes haywire, but if that does happen, please let us know so we can investigate. This should be a smooth experience.

I think I speak for those of us who know what we are doing, that we wish the Windows Device Recovery Tool had the latest Firmware available for whatever device we plug in.

Whether approved by the carrier or not (AT&T for example), if MS feels a firmware is solid enough for submission, having to wait on the carrier to drag their feet for weeks, or maybe even months, while we sit here with buggy devices is worth the slight risk
to many.

That said, this is a small start but anyone who wants the best experience will wipe their device after a major build/firmware update anyway hence the importance of focusing more on making the latest updates available on the WDRT.

And I still have an engineering model 1520 that I cannot update from an old W10TP or rollback to 8.1 and have gotten zero help with it.

MS Support has been utterly useless. You can imagine what my opinions on social media have been about MS and how they've managed the whole WP10 process.

In first place it's your fault that you updated an engineering model which 99% of the time don't have FFUs published. While MS Support could've done something with this, you should've considered the risks in first place.